Desk drawer divider



Jan. 17, 1961 c. w. JARVI 'DESK DRAWER DIVIDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 29, 1959 \N m m n y INVENTOR. C'J/QL l4. JARV/ A/Arv Jan. 17,1961

Filed Oct. 29, 1959 C. W. JARVl DESK DRAWER DIVIDER Sheets-Sheet '2 Fig. 5

INVENTOR. C4?! W. J4/QV/ United States Patent DESK DRAWER DIVIDER Carl W. Jarvi, Glenshaw, Pa., assignor to Haskell Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Oct. 29, 1959, Ser. No. 849,528

3 Claims. (Cl. 206-73) This invention relates to dividers, by which compartments of different sizes and shapes can be formed in desk drawers.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide desk drawer dividers of simple and inexpensive construction,

which can be located in dilferent positions along a drawer,

which can be quickly shifted from one location to another,

which will remain securely in place, and which will satisfactorily hold papers between them.

In accordance with this invention each divider is formed from a partition panel and at least two retaining buttons. The buttons have outer ends adapted to be inserted in selected holes in the rows of holes, with which the opposite sides of a drawer are provided. The inner ends of the buttons are bifurcated in order to straddle and grip marginal areas of the ends of the panel to hold it in-place in the drawer. The buttons are inserted in the holes first, and then the lower corners of the panel are inserted in thebutton slots and pushed down into the drawer. Whenever it is desired to remove the divider from the drawer, the panel is merely slid upward out of the buttons and then the buttons are removed from the holes in the sides of the drawer. The panel may be vertical, in which case four buttons are used, or it may be inclined downward and rearward and require only two buttons. The inclined panel has a foot at its lower end with a flange extending upward parallel to the panel from the upper edge of the foot. This flange hooks under a struck out tongue projectingfrom an adjoining panel engaging the flange.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a desk drawer containing some of my dividers;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the inner end of one of the divider buttons;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of one of the buttons;

Figs. 5 and 6 are enlarged fragmentary sections taken on the lines V-V and VI-VI, respectively, of Fig. 2; and

Figs. 7 and 8 are fragmentary sections taken on the lines VII-VII and VIII-VIII, respectively, of Fig. 6.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a desk drawer 1 of the office desk type is preferably made of sheet metal and its opposite side walls are provided with the usual upper and lower rows of round holes 2 through it. The upper and lower holes are in vertical alignment, and the holes at one side of the drawer are in alignment with those at the opposite side. The number of holes in each row is optional, but should be great enough to provide for a large number of different positions for the dividers that are to be used inside the drawer.

There are two types of dividers that may be used, separately or in combination. These are vertical dividers which have about the same height as the drawer, and inclined dividers, the height of which is considerably Patented Jan. 17, 1961 greater than that of the drawer although they do not which support stacks of paper in an inclined position so that the upper sheet is readily accessible to a person opening the drawer. The vertical dividers are used for forming rectangular compartments in the drawer and for closing oif thespace below the front inclined divider.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 5, the vertical divider includes a rectangular partition panel 3 generally formed from a piece of sheet metal, the top of which may be folded over on itself to provide a smooth rounded upper edge and to stiffen the panel lengthwise. The panel is held in place in the drawer by means of four bifurcated retaining buttons, which may be made of any suitable material, such as a synthetic plastic. The outer end of each button is a cylindrical plug 4 of a size to fit snugly into any of the holes 2 in the sides of the drawer. At the inner end of the plug there is a circular head 5, from the center of which a pair of flat jaws 6 extend inward, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. These jaws, which form the inner end of the button, are spaced apart to form a slot 7 between them, which may also extend through the head. The closed end of the slot has a thickness about equal to the thickness of the panel, but the free ends of the jaws preferably practically touch each other so that they will have to be sprung apart by the panel, in order to receive its edge, thereby assuring a good grip of the button on the panel. The upper and lower ends of the jaws are inclined inward toward the slot to guide the panel into either end.

To mount the vertical divider in the drawer, the plug ends of four retaining buttons are pushed outward into two vertically aligned holes in each side of the drawer. Of course, the buttons at one side of the drawer also are in line with those at the opposite side. The buttons are inserted in such a manner, or are turned after insertion, so that the slots in their inner ends will extend vertically. Then, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, the panel is held above the two upper buttons and then is pushed down to cause its ends to slide down through the slots in those buttons. When the lower corners of the panel reach the two lower buttons, the panel will enter their slots and move down through them until it engages the bottom of the drawer as shown. In this way the panel is held upright in any desired location along the drawer. If it later is wished to eliminate the vertical divider or to move it to another location in the drawer, all that has to be done is to pull up on the panel to slide it up out of the four buttons and then they can be pushed out of the drawer holes and either removed from the drawer or inserted in another group of holes for again receiving and holding the panel. The snug fit of the inner ends of the buttons against the front and back of the panel insures that it will be held firmly in place and will not rattle around as the drawer is opened and closed.

Each inclined divider likewise is formed from a rectangular panel 10 of sheet metal or the like, which may have its upper edge portion folded over on itself. However, the inclined panels have a materially greater height than the vertical panels so that they can extend from the top of the drawer downward and backward to the bottom. The inclined panel is held in place in the drawer in any desired location by retaining buttons just like those described above. However, since there is no danger of the bottoms of the inclined panels swinging back and forth and it therefore is unnecessary to hold them with retaining buttons, only two buttons need be used with each panel. These two buttons are inserted in holes in the top rows. To keep the panel from sliding down too far, its opposite ends may be provided with detents 11 that will engage the tops of the buttons and serve as stops. The detents can be formed by simply bending out small areas of the panel as shown in Fig. 7. The panel is placed in the drawer in the same way as the vertical panel, by simply sliding its ends down through the button slots until its stops strike the buttons. The panel will then have the correct inclination in the drawer. Of-course the bottom of the panel rests on the bottom of the drawer.

Extending across the lower edge of the panel substantially at right angles to it, is an upwardly extending foot 12, which can be formed by bending up the sheet metal from which the panel is formed. This foot forms with the panel a tray that will support a stack of papers. As shownin Fig. 6, the foot is not as long as the panel; its ends are spaced from the ends of the panel so that the foot will not prevent the lower corners of the panel from being inserted in the bifurcated buttons when the divider is being installed in the drawer. Extending along the upper edge of the foot is a flange 13 that is inclined upward at thesame angle as the panel. The upper surface of this flange engages the lower surface of a similar inclined divider directly behind the one just described. The second divider, like all of the inclined dividers, has one or more tongues 14 struck down out of its panel and hooking under the underlying flange 13 of the panel ahead of it, as shown in Figs. 2, 6 and 8. This not only connects the lower parts of the inclined dividers tightly together, but the tongues also prevent papers from sliding down between a flange 13 and the overlying panel of the next divider. Of course, the tongue is slid under the flange as a panel is slid downward through its retaining buttons. Any desired number of inclined dividers can be used, and they can be located along the drawer in any desired positions.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the

invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A divider for the inside of a drawer having rows of holes through its opposite sides near their upper edges, the divider comprising a partition panel and two retaining buttons, the buttons having outer ends for insertion in a selected aligned pair of drawer holes and having bifurcated inner ends for gripping marginal areas of the ends of said panel to hold it in place in the drawer, the height of the panel being great enough to permit it to be inclined in the drawer, the ends of the panel being provided with projections directly above the buttons for engagement therewith to limit downward movement of the panel through the buttons, and said panel being slidable upward through said buttons when they are in said holes to remove it from the drawer.

2. A divider according to claim 1, in which the inclined panel has an upwardly extending foot extending along its lower edge for holding papers on the panel, the ends of the foot being spaced from the adjacent ends of the panel so that the foot can pass upward between said buttons when the panel is pulled out of the drawer.

3. A divider according to claim 1, in which the inclined panel has an upwardly extending foot extending along its lower edge for holding papers on the panel, the ends of the foot being spaced from the adjacent ends of the panel so that the foot can pass upward between said buttons when the panel is pulled out of the drawer, the panel also having a flange extending from the upper edge of said foot parallel to the panel, and the panel having a struck-out tongue adapted to hook over the flange of an adjoining panel to hold them together.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,169,562 Lombardini Aug. 15, 1939 FCREIGN PATENTS 180,022 Switzerland Mar. 16, 1936 

